THE GREAT
Cam Newton. I did not see Jimmy Sidle play when he put over 1000 yards rushing at quarterback and led Auburn to a 9-1 season and the Orange Bowl. I did see Dameyune Craig in all his games, all the home ones in person, and I never thought I would see a more dynamic mobile quarterback than him. However I will say that I now think Cam Newton is the best mobile quarterback I have ever seen at Auburn and one of the best I have ever seen period. It is hard to compare him to Pat Sullivan or Jason Campbell since they were drop back passers so I will not. He put on one of the best single game performances in Auburn history last night against Kentucky totalling almost 400 yards rushing and passing and running for 4 touchdowns. He nearly single handed led Auburn down the field for the winning field goal converting several tough 3rd down conversions. He is a true superstar. Yes he still isn't great at reading defenses and delivering the ball to the open guy sometimes but nobody is perfect. He does continue to improve in that area and at this point I would not put anything past him. Again, Urban Meyer must go home at night and cry after watching the Auburn highlights. He had this guy at his school and could have replaced Tim Tebow with Cam Newton. Thank goodness he came to Auburn.
THE GOOD
I use the phrase "nearly single handed" but that is a bit of hyperbole. It is never just one guy in football. Cam Newton does some amazing things but his veteran offensive line is working hard in the trenches to give him those holes and creases to run through. Never forget the guys in the trenches. We also probably would not have won the game last night without the other true All-SEC player on our team, Darvin Adams. Adams is one of the best receivers in the conference and he had another 100 yards receiving and several clutch catches. Dyer and Fannin showed flashes with some good runs last night. The mastermind behind it all, Gus Malzahn called a good game in the first half and at the end but lost his mind in the third quarter. Kentucky put nine men on the line of scrimmage and rather than burning them through the air Malzahn kept running Ontario McCallebb wide on first down. This continually put us in second and long and made us easier to defend. However overall the entire offense was very good last night.
NOTE: I want to put in a note about where I am coming from before I critique the rest of the team. I nearly always critique Auburn from the standpoint of what it will take to win the SEC West. In my opinion, every Auburn football team should have one goal starting the season and that is to win the West. Their goal will change to winning the SEC championship game if they achieve that. I do not care about polls or the mythical national championship. Winning a division and a championship game is objective. You cannot be cheated out of it. You earn it. With that in mind I do not think I am being too hard on a team that is now 6-0 and 3-0 in the SEC and considered one of the top ten teams in the country. This team is a legitimate contender right now for the SEC West title and I will critique them based on that high standard.
THE BAD
The Auburn special teams overall are bad. It has been two years of this. They do good things at times but overall they are bad. First, it is a mistake to jerk an experienced senior in Shoemaker and put in a freshman. Yes Shoemaker has underperformed a bit but a freshman will most likely make a huge mistake in a big game that could cost us the game. They got lucky when they pulled this with Clinton Durst. I do not think that will happen again especially since Clark averaged only 35 yards a kick last night. The punt return team has passed the point of even being a factor. Every Auburn fan simply hopes that Carr doesn't fumble. There is no longer any expectation of a big punt return. We simply hopes he does not fumble. That is bad special teams. The kickoff coverage which had been good was simply awful last night. Senior Wes Byrum got the job done but this staff inherited Byrum. I am really worried about next year and what this staff will do with a young kicker. Byrum got the job done but this staff inherited Byrum. I am really worried about next year and what this staff will do with a young kicker. Gene Chizik talks a lot about Auburn history and how important it is yet his teams seemingly ignore the tenets of good defense and special teams that Coach Jordan and Dye emphasized. With that said let us move to...
THE UGLY
Our defensive performance last night was ugly. There is no other way to say it. When your offense scores 31 points in the first half against KENTUCKY and you then have to win on a last second field goal YOU ARE PLAYING BAD DEFENSE. My gosh where do I start? I guess in the same place I start every week with our ridiculously extreme philosophy of playing soft coverage. I understand have an overall philosophy but you have to make adjustments based on the team you are playing. The Auburn defense has rose up several times but that is mainly because of the defensive line. Most teams will not throw short the entire night and that is how we finally stop them. That was not true of Kentucky. The three step drop and throw nullifies a defensive line. They were content to throw short to their play makers ALL NIGHT and it is not like that is a surprise. These guys have been around their forever. Their is plenty of film on Kentucky and their attack. Why did our defense not do more to take away Cobb and Locke??? Why did we never play tighter coverage? It is maddening to watch. I guess I can end on a positive. I think this strategy might have some success against Arkansas since they probably won't be content to throw short all day. Of course I still look for Ryan Mallett and Arkansas to roll up big numbers on us. We can only hope we get some crucial stops like in the Clemson and South Carolina games.
AROUND THE SEC
The game of the day was obviously South Carolina's upset of Bama. What a game. After Garcia's boneheaded safety and Bama made it 21-14 I thought Bama would come back and get it. I thought South Carolina would be just another team that fell apart under the pressure of trying to upset Bama. However after they got the ball back they drove the length of the field to make it 28-14. That was a championship big time drive. It could be one of the monumental points of this SEC season. This is definitely the best South Carolina game of Spurrier's tenure there. This is his biggest win so far and one of the biggest wins in South Carolina history. This is also South Carolina's best chance they might ever get of getting the East title especially with Florida's loss to LSU. Speaking of that game...
I still think the guy is crazy but Les Miles did some coaching this week and as always he made an insane call that worked out for him at the end of the game. I will give credit though because even if Florida is not as good as expected it is tough to win in the Swamp. It was another incredible ending for LSU and Miles. It should be another great one when Auburn and LSU get together this season. Elsewhere Georgia finally got an SEC win and Arkansas beat Texas A&M.
Looking ahead, Arkansas at Auburn is game of the week this week. This is the beginning of crunch time in the SEC West. Auburn, Bama and LSU all still control their destiny to win the SEC West. Arkansas will either get back in the picture or be eliminated against Auburn. Bama will look to get back on track against Ole Miss. I bet we see a LOT of Mark Ingram and Trent Richardson this next Saturday. I think that was Bama's biggest mistake against South Carolina. They only gave 17 carries to their dynamic duo. It appears that offensive coordinator Jim McElwain has been bitten by the spread bug. Bama is so big and strong, I think they are much more formidable playing a pro style offense running the ball and using play action. Elsewhere Georgia should get another SEC win against Vandy, Dan Mullen returns to Florida, South Carolina has to get back focused at Kentucky and LSU gets the week off against McNeese State.
No comments:
Post a Comment